sunny day, sweeping the clouds away!

finally.

i'm contributing to pop-culture rather than just parodying or riding its coattails.

late last year, threadless was contacted to take part in a project focusing on sesame street characters. the staff then brought it to the alumni group (printed threadless designers) to come up with an idea to make a collaborative piece that centered around what makes grover who he is. the idea of his traveling tales trunk came up and the group went to work on grover's stickers collected on his journey.



the full project was for "t-world magazine" an australian bi-yearly publication, and the magazine just came out today:



and here is an early scan of the magazine (if you squint, my name is creditted third from the bottom right)


click here to zoom

if you want to get a better idea of the construction of this collab, please visit the flickr set. and an extra special thanks to ian leino for compiling everything and keeping us all in the loop!

last we had heard, t-world and the folks at children's television workshop were very interested in seeing this printed on (can you guess?) t-shirts! i would be very pleased to see that happen!

3 new prints coming soon!

there is a new competition in town that is raising some eyebrows. well, some brows are being furrowed.

tshirtvault.com has a new contest model that awards designers $3 per $19 shirt sold, and the top 5 designs sold get a portion of a $10,000 prize.

why are brows being furrowed? some find the setup incredulous, and even i feel like i am gambling as i submit designs into the competition. the detail that is concerning artists is the fact that you have to send it print ready art from the word go. the first rule of design is to never send the print ready art until you have cleared the check. and for tshirtvault.com to start selling your designs, it's a necessity to have this art up front.

the fear is that these designs could end up being ripped off. the company is brand new and hasn't had the time to build any trust with the online designer community.

i am throwing my hat in only because i see other respected designers taking the same gamble. and if we're ripped off, i will commiserate with good company; if that's any consolation.

now that i've waded through the uncertainty, i'll speak to the perks. barring rejection from tshirtvault.com, these designs will definitely be available to purchase on march 1st:



this eliminates a lot of work for designers. usually, when a design is finished, a designer looks at the different competition communities threadless, emptees, design by hümans, tee fury, shirt.woot, etc.) and guess which one is the best fit. then you submit and cross your fingers for prize money or 24 hour partial sales compensation. all tried and true systems, no doubt.

tshirtvault.com operates more like the old bountee.com (now a different company, hence no link) where every design submitted is available for sale, there's no uncertainty. and unless you win one of the top 5 sales spots, you retain your designs artistic rights and can pull the design at anytime to sell elsewhere (which raises the issue of the bigger design competitions not accepting previously printed designs, no matter how low the quantity, they're tainted.)

so i'm hopeful, and i have selected designs that are particular to tshirtvault's printing process and have been favorites when featured as sidebar art on sites like tee fury, but have never been printed. so please, spread the word. make my gamble worthwhile and help me get in the top 5 printed designs!

death of a hero.

here is another easy way to showcase my progression as a designer.

i will start by showing you my old idea and art:



and then, 2 or more years later now, the idea cycled back through my brain. this time i had a better idea for execution and design:



i think i like the new one better.

sesame street fighter.

here's my latest threadless design turned around for the chance at a profit.

once again put up on bountee for a meager profit.



buy it before i'm somehow sued for parody!

in men's, women's and kid's sizes.